Windows 10’s Paint 3D App is About to Get a Whole Lot More Useful

Microsoft is bringing a powerful new feature to the modern Paint 3D app in Windows 10. Built for 3D content creation, Paint 3D had a whole bunch of 3D-focus editing features from the initial launch. But a new, Free View mode is about to take these editing features to a whole new level.

Paint 3D’s free view already allowed users to move around their 3D world or objects using touch or a mouse, viewing their creation from different perspectives. But editing an object would automatically take you to the regular view, where it can be quite difficult to remember the position of a certain object in the 3D world when you go back to the regular view. The new Free View mode (spotted by WalkingCat), however, lets you edit objects and add things to your 3D world from any angle you want.

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As you move around your 3D world, the selection feature for resizing objects or changing the angles will also follow you around, so you can work on your 3D creation from literally any angle without having to worry much about how it ends up looking in the actual 3D world.

It’s pretty amazing:

Paint 3D is slowly turning out to be one powerful app in Windows 10. The app’s Magic Select is another feature that’s mind-blowingly accurate sometimes. The new Free View mode is yet to be officially announced by Microsoft, and it’s not clear when the app will make it to all Windows 10 users.

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Conversation 23 comments

  • Byron Adams

    11 January, 2018 - 6:20 am

    <p>Now if we could get MS to make the Mixed Reality Simulator an app with better support for the keyboard and mouse so it's like a window into the 3D world, then putting on the headset would be like passing into that world. There are so many 3D games out there for the PC that do not run in VR and yet have great keyboard and mouse support. Paint 3D app has great keyboard and mouse support.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Would also like to see MS </span>do for MR what it did for Windows with Visual Basic. By allowing novice developer to use Visual Studio to New Project "Mixed Reality Space", Add New Item "Paint 3D" object, Run in 3D app, or run in MR/AR etc.</p><p><br></p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2018 - 9:58 am

      <p><a href="#236808"><em>In reply to Byron_Adams:</em></a></p><blockquote>. . . do for MR what it did for Windows with Visual Basic . . .</blockquote><p>I've been wondering about this. Perhaps it took a lot of talent to make programming accessible to hobbyists, and perhaps that type of talent no longer exists at MSFT. Alternatively, GUI programming is just so much more complicated today that 15 years ago that something like VisualBasic or even VB.Net is no longer possible. Being a cynic, I figure the former is more likely.</p>

      • Byron Adams

        11 January, 2018 - 7:46 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#236865"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm not saying it has to be vb. It's just that back then vb was a game changer and allowed me to do a lot of ui with minimal work.</p><p>They have done a lot of good work in Paint 3D. If they could just take the space and objects with it's interaction and allow me to program it by changing some basic properties like x,y,z, animate it, etc.</p>

      • skane2600

        11 January, 2018 - 8:23 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#236865"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>There were a lot of VB applications developed by professionals (although some devs wouldn't be caught dead using VB and would insist on C++ even if it slowed them down. That's not to say that VB was always the appropriate choice). The reason GUI programming on Windows is harder today (excluding legacy tools) is that MS made it so. XAML is a very powerful tool for creating highly sophisticated GUIs, but for simple to moderate GUIs, not so much. </p>

  • woelfel

    11 January, 2018 - 10:10 am

    <p>Paint 3D needs a feature or an accompanying app for animation of a model. That would help me a lot for game development.</p>

  • TheJoeFin

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2018 - 10:24 am

    <p>This is a big step for Paint3D. This is still more of a fun app rather than a productivity tool. To move into the productivity category they might need the ability to add sizes to elements then modeling a room or physical thing would be way more useful. Also adding the ability to animate the objects would be huge.</p>

  • gregsedwards

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2018 - 10:59 am

    <p>"Paint 3D is the future," they said, but you all laughed.</p>

    • chrisrut

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2018 - 12:08 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#236877"><em>In reply to gregsedwards:</em></a></blockquote><p>That's because it's so much easier to criticize than create.</p>

  • PeteB

    11 January, 2018 - 2:39 pm

    <p>Just give me back mspaint. Not interested in weak apps.</p>

  • NT6.1

    11 January, 2018 - 4:51 pm

    <p>Useless kids app. At least the Win32 Paint is useful as a simple photo editor.</p>

  • rgelb

    11 January, 2018 - 11:26 pm

    <p>To all the naysayers here. This program is quite useful for a noob 3D designer like me. It allows me to save the 3D creation as an STL model. I then can easily print it on my 3D printer. Check out thingiverse. People have created tons of cool things with apps like Paint 3D.</p>

    • skane2600

      12 January, 2018 - 12:58 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#237002"><em>In reply to rgelb:</em></a></blockquote><p>I can see how it could be useful for someone with a 3D printer, but I suspect that fewer than 10% of Windows users have one.</p>

      • rgelb

        12 January, 2018 - 8:23 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#237143"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>You don't need to have a 3D printer. You can send off your .STL file off to a 3D printing service for ridiculously cheap. There are a ton of them now. They wouldn't exist if people weren't using them. More people find Paint 3D useful than you think.</p>

        • skane2600

          13 January, 2018 - 11:02 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#237308"><em>In reply to rgelb:</em></a></blockquote><p>I suspect that most of those relatively few people who either own 3D printers or use a 3D printing service use more sophisticated tools than paint 3D. </p>

  • Davor Radman

    12 January, 2018 - 9:41 am

    <p>Until they introduce a way to have multiple files open at the same time, at least, if nothing else, as multiple instances, no go. Too bad. Feature set is complete for what I need.</p><p>Well, except adding my own stickers in the sticker collection, and not having to browser for it every time.</p>

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